Issue 28-06-2019
Featured story
Thought for the week: Judy Clinton on everything in the kitchen sink
The other day I burnt a saucepan dry, very dry. That was a shame: its contents would have made a very tasty sauce. Instead, I was presented with a black, acrid-smelling, cremated, chunky mess, giving me a nasty job to clear up – and no sauce.
Top stories
‘Many countries are only just beginning to see hate crime as something specific to counteract.’
The United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) guides the activities of the United Nations in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. It also reviews United Nations standards and norms in this area, including their use and application by member states. The theme for discussion...
‘When she preached it was “fervent, weighty, with the demonstrating of the spirit, and with power,”’
When does a movement begin? One reckoning dates the beginning of Quakerism from the day – 13 June 1652 – when George Fox spoke to a large gathering on Firbank Fell. But he had been gathering supporters before that date. Perhaps the setting up of an organisation spreading from Swarthmoor Hall via the Fell...
‘Public preachers using a public address system were encouraging anyone listening to take action.’
Sitting in Meeting for Worship last Easter – on the ground at Marble Arch in London, as it happens – I was struck by similarities between the Extinction Rebellion (XR) movement and the early Quaker movement in Britain. We were worshipping beside the XR climate camp, where public preachers using a public...
‘Hester and Sophie’ by John Lampen
There is a scene about halfway through this book where one of the main characters, Hester, and her mum are talking about the Quaker view on God and spirituality. I said, “Him?” “Well, her if you like – or even it. I don’t think of God as a big Daddy...
There Never Was Such A Goose
And think of your clay-pit lake, its bright water a black slate spectral with depth – inerrant, I believe, in fabulous mockery, pauce ańd inflamed with sprung forms.
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Quakers mark Refugee Week
The annual Refugee Week got off to a good start when the government announced that the UK will resettle 5,000 of the world’s most vulnerable refugees in the first year of a new scheme. As Quakers prepared themselves for a lively week of action, sanctuary campaigners congratulated each other after...
BYM and Woodbrooke work together for changes
Trustees of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) and Woodbrooke, the Quaker study centre in Birmingham, have agreed to work together to radically change the way the two organisations support Friends in Britain.
Quakers go to Glastonbury
Friends will be donning their wellies this weekend when, for what is thought to be the first year ever, there will be a Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) presence at Glastonbury Festival.
Standing ovation for Quaker prison theatre
A Quaker theatre company performed in front of an audience of sixty inmates at a prison in the south west of England this month.
Bath Friends mark Windrush Day
Bath Friends were among those who supported the second Windrush Day event in Bath this month.
Letters - 28 June 2019
Expressions of experience The language in this year’s Swarthmore Lecture might be difficult for some Friends. I call myself a Christian Quaker as I love the hymns of my Methodist upbringing and the songs of my later ecumenical experiences. I can resonate with the emotion of the Christian faith...